


our revels

by wildcard_47



Series: from partridges to pear trees [5]
Category: The Terror (TV 2018), The Terror - Dan Simmons
Genre: Did Someone Say Shakespeare?, M/M, Or Maybe Just In The Living Room, Theatre In The Round
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 05:05:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17037188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildcard_47/pseuds/wildcard_47
Summary: Peglar tries his hand at acting.





	our revels

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from, of course, The Tempest (and its most famous monologue, "our revels now are ended...")

“Yeah, James. Course.” Although John’s voice was as kind and understanding as always, Henry could tell that John was rather disappointed from the pinched expression on his face, and the way he adjusted the receiver against his other ear. He still had an ancient rotary dial phone, sleek and black and gold like the one Henry remembered from Gran’s house, ages ago. “Don’t want you getting out on the roads, if they’re that bad.” Pause. “No, no, we’ll get together another time. “ Pause. “Give Francis our love, all right?”

Henry waited until John had hung up before he asked the obvious question. “Guessing they can’t make it, either?”

“No,” sighed John, who by this point looked as disappointed as a kid who thought Santa wasn’t coming. “Isn’t their fault, obviously. But we've not had a proper Shakespeare night in ages.” He let out a sigh, and deposited his glasses onto the nearby side table, pinching the bridge of his nose between finger and thumb. “Don’t suppose our readthrough will happen anytime soon. Silna and Goodsir can’t come over again until after New Years, and we need at least six people for all the parts.”

One of the reasons Henry had been so attracted to John Bridgens, in the beginning, was because he could make even the most mundane words on a piece of paper sound like the stuff of legend. Even now, Henry would gladly listen to his boyfriend read the  _ Metro _ ’s help wanted ads if he thought it would make John happy. And tonight, he felt John deserved the chance to perform Shakespeare in their living room as he’d originally intended, instead of making do with the TV or quietly reading a book he’d already read a thousand times over.

“Why? We can still do it ourselves.” Henry glanced around, spotted the closest copy of  _ The Tempest  _ on the table, and snapped it up quick, before John could contradict him. Clearing his throat, he began to read. “ _ A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard. Enter a ship-maker and a boatswain. _ ”

A hopeful light had entered John’s dark eyes. “You’re not serious?”

“Absolutely am,” said Henry with a casual scoff, as if reading through an entire Shakespeare play for fun in a single night was something he’d been born to do, instead of the sort of thing that had taken him years of practice and private tutoring. “Come on. I’ll be the Master. Start us off right.” He cleared his throat again, deepened his voice to better get into character. “ _ Boatswaine.” _

John’s shy, hopeful smile widened as he got to his feet. He didn’t even move to pick up a book. Bloody brilliant, he was. 

“Here, Master. What cheer?”

“Good. Speake to the Mariners, fall to it, yarely, or we run our sl – slues aground, bestirre, bestirre!” Henry pitched his voice a little quieter this time for the narration.  _ “Enter Mariners.” _

“Heigh, my hearts, cheerly, cheerly my harts!” John was watching him as carefully as if Henry were the most important person in the room, now. It made Henry’s heart skip in anticipation. “Take in the top sail, tend to the Master’s whistle: blow till thy burst thy winde, if room enough!”

“ _ Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Anthonio, Ferdinando, Gon – Gonz  _ – ah, shit – ”

“Gonzalo,” murmured John, and reached out with one hand to touch Henry’s bicep. “God, you’re amazing.”

Henry blushed with pride, and tried not to stutter as he kept going.  _ “Gonzalo, and others.” _


End file.
